Prepare for ‘mother of all queues,’ marketers tell Nigerians

Dealers under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria have denied being paid N74bn by the Federal Government as bridging claims for the transportation of petroleum products.

As reported by The Punch, the marketers warned that Nigeria could witness ‘the mother of all queues’ from next week if the Federal Government fails to pay the 12 months bridging claims being owed operators in the downstream oil sector.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority was reported to have paid N71,233,712,991 bridging claims and another N2,736,179,950.84 freight differentials to marketers as of June 6, 2022.

However, the Abuja-Suleja IPMAN Secretary, Mohammed Shuaibu, countered the position of the NMDPRA on the payments of bridging claims.

Referring to the Chief Executive of NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, the IPMAN official said, “He (Ahmed) alleged he has paid marketers N74bn right? We have accused him of sabotaging our efforts by not paying us our bridging claims and that is the fact.

“We are not disputing because he says he paid, but we do urge him to identify the marketers he paid. Let him go through every detail. Let him retrieve the papers. Come out and provide an explanation to the public if you claim to have paid N74bn to our members but we assert that you have not.

“In any case, he will explain to the public and the presidency how the problem got to that level by the time we completely detool within the next week, since this one will result in the mother of all lines.

“You are owing a marketer, for example, N30m or N20m, you paid him N150,000 or N200,000 and you now go on air to say you have paid the marketer. Is there any justification to that effect?”